Detroit is a quintessentially American city, but its past half-century has been challenging. Between 1950 and 2010, Detroit's population shrank by a staggering 61%, dropping it from fourth to the 27th largest city in the nation.Â
This month, Mayor Mike Duggan announced that the U.S. Census Bureau estimated his city had grown by nearly 2,000 residents between 2022 and 2023, to 633,218, marking the "first time the U.S. Census Bureau has confirmed" gains since the 1950s.
Detroit's growth follows "decades of painful decline," The New York Times said. Even though the gain itself was "slight," the symbolism of its population boomlet "was meaningful in a city that had hollowed out, year after year, since the days when more than 1.8 million people lived there."
The registered growth also comes amid a long fight between Duggan and the Census Bureau. For "each demolished structure, the agency subtracts about two residents from its population estimate," Detroit argued in a recent lawsuit. That's unfair because the demolished buildings have typically been "unoccupied and uninhabitable for years," said Kurt Metzger of Data Driven Detroit.Â
Detroit's battle with the Census Bureau is more than a question of civic pride. Should the city win its suit, the "effects could be profound," with "Detroit and other cities [possibly getting] millions more dollars each year" from the federal government, Outlier Media said. It would also be a "narrative-shifting event." Growing the city has taken "10 years, but we're here," Duggan said to The Detroit News. "This is a day of celebration." | 
